Senators’ eight-game point streak snapped in 6–5 loss to Monsters

The Belleville Senators began the second half of their long road trip in Cleveland, taking on the Monsters for the first game of a back-to-back, falling 6-5.

The first period was a high-scoring affair, with the Monsters striking first. A breakout started by Hunter McKown and Zach Aston-Reese saw Corson Ceulemans cut in and squeak a tight-angle shot past through for a 1-0 lead. Just over midway through the period, the Senators responded with a defender goal of their own. A hard battle down low by Tyler Boucher allowed the puck to slip out to Philippe Daoust, who fed Jorian Donovan in front for his fourth of the season and a 1-1 tie. Cleveland quickly regained the edge with two goals in rapid succession. Just 22 seconds after the Senators’ equalizer, Hudson Fasching sent Jack Williams into the offensive zone, where he buried a wraparound tally to make it 2-1. Under two minutes later, sustained pressure in the Belleville zone resulted in a James Malatesta shot that produced a rebound for Caleb MacDonald, who scored his second of the year to give the Monsters a 3-1 lead.

Scoring did not slow down in the second frame, as Belleville cut into the deficit. Arthur Kaliyev snapped his pointless streak by potting his twenty-seventh of the season off a feed from Daoust and Boucher to make it 3-2. The Monsters answered once again with two swift tallies. First, a point shot from Ceulemans was tipped in by Justin Pearson, restoring Cleveland’s two-goal cushion. Just over a minute later, Williams fed Owen Sillinger from behind the net, extending Sillinger’s goal streak to four games and pushing the lead to 5-2. Belleville added one more before the end of the period. Strong work down low by Carter Yakemchuk got the puck to Jamieson Rees, whose backhand on net created a rebound that Oskar Pettersson put away, sending the game into the final period with Cleveland ahead 5-3.

Just one minute and two seconds into the third, the Senators struck early. A pass from below the goal line by Garrett Pilon found Olle Lycksell, who buried his seventh of the year to make it 5-4. Cleveland restored the two-goal lead just before the midway point of the period when Luca Pinelli set up Brendan Gaunce, who streaked past a defender and beat Leevi Merilainen to make it 6-4. Belleville pulled within one again as their power play expired. A hard one-timer from Lassi Thomson at the blue line kicked off the pad of Ivan Fedotov and right to Tyler Boucher, who trimmed the lead to 6-5. The Senators mounted a formidable push in the final minutes but were unable to complete the comeback, falling 6-5.